History - 24 Ministers reply in 2006 Budget debate
This is 11 pm and the third day of the Ministerial winding-up will go on till at least midnight. Eleven Ministers have today replied, with three more Ministers waiting their turn. Only the Transport Minister, Chan Kong Choy and the Rural and Regional Development Minister Abdul Aziz Shamsuddin were absent, their places taken by their Deputy Ministers.
Kong Choy is overseas on official duties, but nobody knows why Abdul Aziz is absent. His Deputy Minister Dr. Awang Adek Husssin refused to say when asked, leading to a protracted row which occurred less than an hour ago. I do not know this was the result of arrogance of Abdul Aziz or Awang Adek.
There was another ugly episode today, which occurred in the last ten minutes before the lunch break, at the beginning of the winding-up of Education Minister, Hishammuddin Hussein, which ended in pandemonium in an orchestrated attempt to politicize the debate.
Giving credit where credit is due, parliamentary history was made when 24 Ministers came to Parliament to reply in the 2006 Budget debate. In the past, a Wednesday Cabinet meeting would be excuse for Ministers to be absent from Parliament. Today, this Cabinet jinx was broken when several Ministers skipped the Cabinet meeting (clearly with approval of the Prime Minister) so that they could personally reply when their Ministries’ turn come up.
Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak, the Government Whip, also turned up in the House at around 10 p.m. – clearly to ensure Ministerial and MP discipline. It is hoped that the greater Ministerial awareness and commitment of their parliamentary duties will be a sustained one, even after the impending Cabinet reshuffle.
Deputy Speaker Lim Si Cheng has just called on the Health Minister, Dr. Chua Soi Lek, to reply and revealed that Chua had come straight from the KLIA to Parliament on his return from overseas. I just stood up in the Chamber while blogging this to express apprecdiation of the House, which is the Ministerial attitude we want to see from the front-benchers, and not the irresponsible example of Awang Adek.
Kong Choy is overseas on official duties, but nobody knows why Abdul Aziz is absent. His Deputy Minister Dr. Awang Adek Husssin refused to say when asked, leading to a protracted row which occurred less than an hour ago. I do not know this was the result of arrogance of Abdul Aziz or Awang Adek.
There was another ugly episode today, which occurred in the last ten minutes before the lunch break, at the beginning of the winding-up of Education Minister, Hishammuddin Hussein, which ended in pandemonium in an orchestrated attempt to politicize the debate.
Giving credit where credit is due, parliamentary history was made when 24 Ministers came to Parliament to reply in the 2006 Budget debate. In the past, a Wednesday Cabinet meeting would be excuse for Ministers to be absent from Parliament. Today, this Cabinet jinx was broken when several Ministers skipped the Cabinet meeting (clearly with approval of the Prime Minister) so that they could personally reply when their Ministries’ turn come up.
Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak, the Government Whip, also turned up in the House at around 10 p.m. – clearly to ensure Ministerial and MP discipline. It is hoped that the greater Ministerial awareness and commitment of their parliamentary duties will be a sustained one, even after the impending Cabinet reshuffle.
Deputy Speaker Lim Si Cheng has just called on the Health Minister, Dr. Chua Soi Lek, to reply and revealed that Chua had come straight from the KLIA to Parliament on his return from overseas. I just stood up in the Chamber while blogging this to express apprecdiation of the House, which is the Ministerial attitude we want to see from the front-benchers, and not the irresponsible example of Awang Adek.
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